The News Record 1.31.13

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THE 132-YEAR-OLD AWARD-WINNING INDEPENDENT STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE LVVVVVVIV

Meal plan swipe limit proposed

The News Record THURSDAY | JANUARY 31 | 2013

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Guest swipes at campus dining halls could be limited to five a semester BRYAN SHUPE SENIOR REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM Eating lunch with your friends on campus might soon come with stipulations. The University of Cincinnati is altering its current meal plan, allotting students only five guest swipes per semester. Todd Duncan, director of UC’s housing and food services, said the change was necessary to keep housing and food rates as low as possible. If approved by the UC Board of Trustees, the new policy would go into effect at the beginning of the summer semester. “Had we chosen to stay with the current meal plan offerings, we were faced with an approximate -percent rate increase for all residential meal plans,” Duncan said. “The change is based on the university’s commitment and vested interest in being financially competitive in the recruitment of new students.” The change in policy was not due to contracting with Aramark Food Services, Duncan said. Despite the 5-percent increase, many students agree that swiping guests in is an excellent way to meet fellow students and upperclassmen. An online survey asking students for input about the change esulted in 1,217 responses from UC students. Approximately 67 percent of students with a meal plan swipe in one to five guests each week. Along with the limit of guests in the cafeteria, housing and food services would consolidate all possible meal plans into one unlimited meal plan. “Now there’s only one plan for people who are required to buy them,” said Lane Hart, student body president. “The reason I think people are complaining about it is now there’s only one option and this option only has five guest swipes, which isn’t very many.” Dan Traicoff, director of LGBT Affairs for SG, argues that an unlimited meal plan is unnecessary, as many students end the semester with extra swipes. “I think it is wrong,” Traicoff said. “If you have parents visiting from out of town, you would use up the majority of your guest swipes at [once]. Next year the incoming students won’t know about the policy change, but this year’s students will be very angry.” Duncan said that the new meal plan would benefit the university by keeping food rates as low as possible.

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RUNNING FOR MAYOR UC employee sets sights on city’s highest office JASON HOFFMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM A University of Cincinnati employee who previously ran for congress in Ohio’s first district is now bringing his Libertarian platform to the Cincinnati mayoral race. Jim Berns, lab director of the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning technology and facilities and Libertarian candidate, is proposing ideas he believes will decrease city government spending while making it more efficient. One of the issues Berns is bringing to his mayoral campaign from his past congressional runs is the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana and other narcotics. “We can do a significant savings in the Cincinnati budget if the police aren’t wasting their time chasing minor drug traffickers around,” Berns said. “And we’re going to reduce violence as well because a lot of the violence in this city is a turf war over marijuana — [victims of crime] are sons and daughters, and they have sisters and brothers out there, and the jail is full.” But his views on the war on drugs isn’t based solely in crime reduction, Berns sees it as a way to right the wrongs of the past and present. “The origin of the drug war is racist — the original laws were used in the south against the black community and now it’s grown to where if you look at places like the Hamilton County Justice Center, it’s mostly black men,” Berns said. “Not only will we save human lives, but also the police

expense, the court time, space in the jail and we will be able to get police coverage.” Being a Libertarian, Berns wants to minimize the amount of responsibility delegated to the city government. One item he wants to cut from the city ledgers is the streetcar project. “If there is going to be a city-run streetcar, it’s not only the streetcar, but [the cost of] maintaining the streetcars, putting the tracks in, paying the wages and benefits to the drivers,” Berns said. “The city is continuing to run up this big bill for paying benefits and retirement to its current workers, and it’s totally irresponsible to put more people on the city budget when it doesn’t have the money to even fund its existing retirement expenses.” The alternative to the current plan for the streetcar would be to have businesses pay for the construction and operation of the streetcar, which would then run lines with stops at places like the new Horseshoe Casino, hotels, restaurants and other small businesses in the Downtown and Uptown areas, Berns said. “I really question Roxanne Qualls’ ability to make sound decisions if she supports something as ridiculous as this streetcar proposal,” Berns said. “I really wonder if she is capable of making good decisions on other things like finance because it’s going to end up being a white elephant like when they put in the subway system in Cincinnati.” Berns also said city government neglects the Uptown area, specifically when renovations and new projects like the

streetcar are considered. “It’s one of the problems that when the city takes on a project, they are spending all that money in the downtown area,” Berns said. “Yet Price Hill, Clifton, Northside, College Hill and all these other communities have the tax dollars drained off them, so there is a mindset that the downtown area comes first.” Libertarians, Berns said, want to minimize tax money that goes to the city and minimize city employees. Berns also plans to reduce the city’s income tax from its current 2.1-percent rate to 1.75 percent. Along with the tax rate reduction, some areas of city government would be removed and others would experience across-the-board cuts. John Cranley, who left city council in 2009, will also be on the ballot in May. Cranley is a co-founder of the Ohio Innocence Project from the UC college of Law. Berns ended up getting more than 1,000 signatures, but the Hamilton County Board of Elections validated only 514 — putting him over the minimum requirement of 500 to be on the ballot. The primary for the mayoral election takes place May 7, when only two candidates will emerge on the final ballot for the Nov. 5 election. The News Record will be interviewing candidates for city and council offices throughout the campaign cycle. Check out newsrecord.org for updates on the race for Cincinnati mayor.

University Metro ridership increases Number of Metro riders exceeds previous year, additional routes possible DIAMOND CRUMPTON SCOTT STAFF REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM

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METRO RIDERSHIP RISING Metro ridership by students and faculty at the University of Cincinnati increased 24 percent in 2012. The rise in ridership could bring a series of changes to the Metro system, including the creation of a transit district in the Uptown area and additional routes connecting hospitals that will operate seven days a week.

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The Metro is looking to make changes to accommodate increased ridership from University of Cincinnati students and faculty in 2012. UC ridership increased 24 percent in 2012 totaling 270,277 rides — 52,353 more than 2011, said Jill Dunne, Metro public affairs manager. There are plans for a new Uptown Transit District, which will serve as the major connection and transfer point for 10 Metro routes and several Uptown shuttles offered by UC and area employers. A “Way to Go” transit plan would provide more crosstown service from Anderson and the Westside to the UC. Metro hopes to have circular routes that would be a seven-day service throughout Uptown connecting hospitals within the next 10 years. The routes would potentially go through a series of hubs in the Uptown area. Metro has a program with the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

that offers students and faculty decreased fares. Metro offers UC students discounted fares through the UC Metro card or EZ Ride card. “I like it. [It’s] a good service,” said Matt Owens, fourth-year history student. “I would like to see more money invested in it. I would like them to be open more on Fridays and Saturdays so people don’t have to drive home drunk.” UC offers several different payment options, a $53 one-time payment per semester or a $1 payment for each ride — 75 cents less than the standard rate. “It was a program that started many years ago at the offering of Metro,” said Marie Sutthoff, UC Metro Program director. “Spring 2009 started a $10 price per quarter, now its $53 per semester [for the UC Metro card].” In the past, UC students and faculty were able to ride for free just by showing their Bearcat cards, but increases in UC ridership made a fare necessary. Overall Metro ridership increased 4.2 percent in 2012, which is higher than the national average increase for bus systems. Metro provided 17.6 million total rides.

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